Port Pilots Go Back to Work but Pact Talks Will Continue : Labor: A crippling two-day strike by an 11-member union is settled. Negotiations with the city on economic issues will resume Tuesday.

The Port of Los Angeles was back in business Sunday night, as port pilots reached agreement with the Los Angeles Harbor Department, ending a two-day strike that had crippled operations at the nation’s second-busiest port.

Both the pilots and the longshoremen--who walked off the job in sympathy with the tiny 11-member pilots union--went back to work as soon as the settlement was announced at 8 p.m.

“We’re pleased,” said port spokeswoman Julia Nagano. “We’re looking forward to getting the port back to normal operations.”

The pilots, who steer tankers, freighters and passengers ships in and out of the harbor, walked off the job early Saturday morning, saying under-staffing and excessive overtime had created serious safety problems.

The walkout caught Harbor Department officials by surprise. Although management pilots were available to guide ships to their berths, the strike halted port operations because the longshoremen--who load and unload cargo from the massive vessels--refused to cross the pilots’ picket line.

The pilots, who are city employees, have been without a contract since June. Sunday’s settlement, however, did not end the contract negotiations. Instead, according to both sides, the agreement contained the following points:

* The Harbor Department and the pilots will draft a written safety agreement. Port officials would not elaborate. But union lawyer Wallace Knox said the letter will state that supervisors will not ask pilots to perform ship maneuvers that they are not qualified to handle, and pilots will have the right to refuse such maneuvers.

* The pilots and the city will resume negotiations on economic issues Tuesday. Representatives of the longshoremen’s union and the Pacific Maritime Assn., which represents terminal operators in the harbor, will be permitted to attend.

* The pilots will be paid for the two days they struck by the Pacific Maritime Assn., which wanted the pilots--and the port--back at work, according to one source familiar with the talks. And there will be no retribution against the strikers. Regular benefits, such as health insurance, will be paid by the city.

Pilots and their lawyer acknowledged they were not completely satisfied with the agreement.

“I can’t say we’re totally happy,” said Capt. Joseph Silva, president of Local 68 of the International Organization of Masters, Mates and Pilots. But, he added, “I think we’ve got some cooperation from the Harbor Department, some real honest (commitment) to deal with these issues of safety . . . I think our strike made them address that to the level that they did.”

Knox said the pilots had pressed unsuccessfully for binding arbitration of safety grievances. “We did not succeed in protecting the harbor the way we wanted to,” he said, “but I think we gained their attention.”

The walkout delayed the movement of tens of thousands of tons of cargo. Several ships remained anchored outside the breakwater Sunday, their berths occupied by other vessels that could not move until longshoremen unloaded them.

Members of Local 13 of the International Longshoremen’s and Warehousemen’s Union honored the pilots’ strike, despite an arbitrator’s ruling ordering them to return to the docks. The ruling meant union officials had to instruct the rank-and-file to go back to work. But none complied.

“We’re here to show support for them,” said longshoreman Bob Agalsoff, as he and about two dozen colleagues waited, with a lone pilot, for the arrival of a cargo ship at Berth 230 on Terminal Island. “Eleven guys to tie up a whole port like this? They couldn’t do it by themselves.”